messiah novel (you are in shine, part 13)

[devilism]

His house ablaze. Inside the living room, which seemed to have been painted red all over, his father and younger sister collapsed into a heap. And his mother who hung her head as she leaned on the piano.

An old black case rested at the man's feet.

There had been a tall man staring at that scene.

Now he finally realised it.

A SVD* had for certain been hanging from that man's fingers.

And that man's distinctive hair colour.

Ichijima might be able to uncover that robber's identity. When Eiri thought that, he wrote the features of the man who had killed his family with as many details as he could think of on paper and gave it to him.

With only one glance at the paper Ichijima spoke up. "His hair is like freshly brewed cappuccino, isn't it?"

The man with that hair was standing in front of him now.

There was no mistaking it with that silhouette and characteristic hair.

— — — — — — — — —
(There's no way.)

Eiri gazed at him.

Was it... not a robber who had broken into his house, killed his family and set fire to the place?

(It was a spy from the North!)

"... Who are you?"

At last Eiri only managed to squeeze that much out of his throat. The inside of his mouth felt unusually dry.

Get yourself together, Eiri scolded himself, before you collapse.

This wasn't a situation where he could get shaken up by unexpectedly running into his parents' enemy. His opponent was a spy from the North. The moment he'd drop his guard, the outcome would be that he'd be shot between his eyebrows.

The man slowly turned towards Eiri. The man's facial features and eye colour were exposed.

At that time he hadn't known--- When he had seen the face of the man who had killed his family from the side, his face had been hidden by his long bangs-- It was the face of his enemy.

"Do you remember me?"

His tone was as if he was reading a picture book out loud to a young child. He didn't speak unnaturally like most foreigners would. His voice smoothly flowed out like water.

But there was a different reason why Eiri stood petrified as if his shadow had been sewn to the ground.

(That face, why--- Why does it resemble Haku's?!)

The man was unarmed. At least, the only weapon he could see was the thing resembling a SVD at his feet. There was no strange bulge in his clothes.

And yet Eiri was disoriented. His face looked too much like the face of a guy he knew!

"... You, who are you? Why..."

Eiri said, almost more like a groan.

The shock of the unexpected meeting and the hatred that filled Eiri's heart once more made Eiri completely forget that he had to protect Ushio Yoshiya from the sniper. Instead he rather wanted to get more information out of this guy somehow.

Why did he have the same face as Haku?

And was he really the same guy as the one back then?

"You're... the one who killed my family, right? Aren't you the murderer from back then?!"

It felt like blood was flowing through his body again after a long while of nothing.

"... I had just come back from cram school back then. Since there was no spot to park my bicycle out front, I went to the garden. In the garden was an old cherry tree, as old as Japan itself, and I knew my family was planning to watch the cherry blossoms there that day. They had also invited friends to come there."

For the first time in a long while the memory that had sunk to the bottom of Eiri's mind was now washing over Eiri like a tidal wave.

"I saw you from behind. The fire was already burning the dining set in the kitchen and was starting to spread. Even back then you already had that SVD. You brought it to my house in a case and shot my family."

"That's right."

The man briefly affirmed. His voice was still like water. He went on like that.

"But there's a lot you don't know."

"What?"

"You're too c-u-t-e."

Somehow the smooth Japanese sounded like scorn to Eiri's ears.

"Don't you want to know? Why I slaughtered your family. ---Why I let you live?"

"Let me live, what?!"

Blood gushed around in his head. According to what the man was saying, Eiri didn't escape that time, but was let go on purpose.

That couldn't be.

That couldn't be. He had run away.

He had escaped.

That's why he had ended up joining the Korean mafia. He was reborn in that plastic trash bin on that dirty rainy day. --- All just to live.

"I wanted to meet you all this time. I wanted to--- kill you!"

He spoke up clearly. He was living right now because he put all of his hatred into being able to live until that day.

"It doesn't matter that you came to Japan for the summit. I have a chance to kill you anyway. I'll kill you."

The man stared at Eiri as if he was looking at something incredibly strange.

"It's strange. It seems like you're entirely full of passion. But Sakura don't work that way."

"?!"

"At least, Ichijima* hasn't trained you that way. .. That's right. "Immortal knife*."

There wasn't anything in his voice that sounded strange or provocative. It was nothing but smooth and pleasant, completely lacking any passion or individuality. Eiri's gaze grew sharp.

"What?"

"It seems your talent for being a sniper has blossomed under the Korean mafia. How wonderful. Even when you went back to your parents' house, you didn't die. Even when the Korean mafia died due to a dispute, you didn't die. That's your destiny. --- That you met me here as well."

Eiri grasped at his chest with his fingers. He was taken aback.

"If you were captured, the Sakura nor Ichijima could s-a-v-e you."

(This guy...!)

Eiri glanced to see the SVD was still in its case.

He still must not have shot at Ushio yet. If so, was he planning to assemble it after this?

Was he really going to shoot a paint bullet? Or...

"I wanted to meet you g-u-y-s."

The man said. It was just as if he could read Eiri's mind.

"The son of the man I killed... I learned through a report that you were still alive after that. That was one year ago. After that I started investigating it. I was surprised that the child who had been let go back then was now in the same trade as me. Moreover, it was said he had become a Sakura under that Ichijima. You must have wanted to hear something. Why your family was killed by me. And why I..."

Here the man emphasized his words.

".. resemble your Messiah."

"Shut up."

Eiri put strength into the finger that rested on the trigger of the 9 mm gun. It gave a sound like water being shot from a syringe, and a bullet grazed the man's feet. The gun had an incredibly small silencer so no sound would come out.

"There's no time to go along with your blabbing!"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Eiri?"

"Shut up!"

"You should be wondering about it even more now you've become a Sakura. You apparently can't stay calm when you see my face."

"Shut up!"

Even though he denied it with words, in his head he could feel the pressure from the questions that arose in his head with what the man was saying.

For a long time he had believed, just as he said, that his family had been killed by a burglar.

But the sights that got revived in his head one by another told Eiri that it wasn't such a simple incident at all. He had been carrying a folded up SVD. He had been wearing a glossy blueish purple coat that a normal burglar or arsonist wouldn't wear.

He couldn't think of anyone but him.

This spy from the North who had the same face as his Messiah!

(I'll kill him!)

Eiri once again put strength into his finger that rested on the trigger the moment he opened his eyes wide. But before he could confirm what had happened with the bullet, Eiri fell to his knees.

"Ah---"

The man's palm had quickly, in an instant, pushed away Eiri's arm that was holding the gun. And his other arm drove itself into the back of Eiri's neck a moment later.

There was the sound of metal scraping against the floor. Eiri's gun had fallen onto the ground.

Pain rain from his neck through his arm. The man was twisting Eiri's right arm.

"Guh.."

"It's not good to jump to the wrong conclusions so easily."

He whispered near Eiri's ear, close enough that they were practically touching.

"I just wanted to ask you something. Whether you really were saved."

(Whether I was saved, what?!)

"What..."

"Don't you want to come with me?"

Eiri gazed at him in wonderment.

"Even if you stay here, you can't save anything, and you can't be saved. Never."

Right as he was thinking about what kind of belief was in those words, pain ran through him again. Eiri started trying to move to try and loosen the man's grip on him, but he saw through it right away and twisted his arm once more.

He wasn't able to hold back a groan from the overwhelming pain. Flashes burned into his eyes as if his sight was being dyed silver.

It was at that exact moment.

Woosh, there was a sudden wind very close to him.

The man quickly let go of Eiri's arm. As he staggered and kneeled down on the concrete floor, Eiri realised someone else had appeared.

It was Haku.

"Haku!"

When he looked, there was a vermillion line, about 5 centimeters long, running down the man's cheek. A bullet must have grazed his cheek. That sound must have been the gunshot that Haku fired.

(That Haku, shooting that well in these circumstances...)

"Mitsumi Haku, huh?"

The man wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. Sticky red blood got smudged onto the man's hand, becoming darker as it solidified.

Eiri gasped.

(Only the color of their hair is different... Aside from that, they almost look the same...)

It was as if Haku was being reflected in water. It didn't quite feel like a reflection in a mirror, since even though they had the same facial features, since Haku wasn't as expressive and seemed like he wouldn't bleed, just like a mannequin.

"Just at the right moment. Haku, I wanted to see you as well. It's been a long while, I wonder if you remember it."

"A long while?"

"You can't have forgotten it. This face that's the same as yours."

He put his hands on the ground and slowly stood up. At that moment the man quickly climbed over the railing that was supposed to protect anyone from falling off, and jumped down from the tall building.

"See you again."

(He can escape!)

On the other side of the railing was the rooftop of a four story building. The man went down the emergency stairs at the back and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The case was gone. It had been picked up in that slight instant.

"Haku..."

Eiri held his twisted arm, hesitating for a moment when he thought that he should thank him. There was something he wanted to ask before that.

(That man had said that it had been a long while.)

He wondered if that man was the relative that Haku had spoken of.

"Around the time I was ten he disappeared. Someone had taken him away. That's why I'm looking for him."

When they first had been assigned to each other and had taken care of the diplomat from the North, he had talked about that being his reason for becoming a Sakura.

If that was the case, then what was the hostile tension that flowed between the two of them during their confrontation?

And why was Haku's older brother targetting Ushio Yoshiya?

Why did he become a spy for the North?

(Do you know the reason, Haku...?)

Even after the man was gone, Haku's expression didn't change as he approached Eiri.

"I was late. I had to check something."

"Check? What..."

Practically before Eiri said that, Haku pointed with his thumb at the rooftop on the southern side that he had just come from. He handed over the binoculars they had been given for monitoring purposes. Eiri peeked through them.

The mock exam had just finished, and the test-takers were coming out of the building. It wasn't that busy yet, and the students were heading in groups with wornout faces in the direction of the station.

Eiri kept patiently staring at the entrance. There he was. Ushio. A gray jacket with a hood. He was walking while taking a drinking bottle out of his bag.

He didn't seem especially different. His gait wasn't heavy, so Eiri wondered if he heard about the results of the mock exam already or not. Eiri followed him as Ushio headed towards the subway station, lifting his bottle to drink from it many times.

Suddenly he noticed something unusual.

(He was already shot at?!)

There was a black spot on the back of his jacket. The location was precisely in the middle of his heart. Since it was on his back, Ushio didn't really notice the stain, and he just got mixed up into the crowd.

"A paint bullet was shot at the top of his jacket. There wasn't anything unusual when he entered the mock exam hall this morning and took off his jacket. That means he would have had to been shot at just now."

Dummy, Eiri thought and clenched his teeth. That was the reason why the man hadn't taken his SVD out of its case. He was a perfect decoy. While Eiri was unable to take his eyes off that man, a different culprit--- or maybe he should say that man's subordinate shot at Ushio. Moreover, the time between him finishing the mock exam and him putting on the jacket was only about five minutes.

The North had been aiming for that. By showing up with a skillful sniper team, they were intending to let the Japanese government know how serious the North was about this. And their strength as well. Their threat that they were able to shoot at the son of the prime minister despite him being monitored by both the police and Sakura was conveyed for sure.

(Why? Why did the North go that far to shoot at Ushio? Why did they do it in such a show-off way?)

Woosh, it was the sound of the power generating windmill turning from the wind. Like a buzz in his ears.

(Ichijima is hiding something. ---- No, the higher ups from the defense department... The National Public Safety Commission!)

And then that man. The one who killed my family, the mysterious sniper who looked just like Haku...

"Eiri."

"What is it?"

"Do you want to know the reason why that man had the same face as me?"

It felt like his heart stopped beating.

Haku turned his back on Eiri, who didn't say anything in return, and spoke up again.

"Right now he seems to call himself Egor Ginzburg. But I know his name, it's Mitsumi Sou."

"Mitsumi, that's..."

"--- It's the name of my older twin brother* who disappeared fourteen years ago."


The sound of the wind grew louder.


( back to index. )

notes:

* a SVD is a russian style gun, check the last part before this one again to see where it was mentioned.

* ichijima is spelled in katakana rather than kanji whenever this guy mentions him, probably showing a hint of a foreign accent when it comes to names.

* knife uses the same kanji as "eiri" here, but the reading katakana suggests it should be read as the english word "knife".

* i have no idea how someone can be your older brother and twin at the same time but it's what the japanese text says.......